A hearing is scheduled in Sacramento on Sept. 27 in a class action against Sutter Health over last year’s theft of a personal computer that held data on 4.24 million patients.

Twelve lawsuits filed over the incident have been coordinated in Sacramento County Superior Court.

Sacramento attorneys Brooks Cutter and Robert Buccola, along with San Francisco attorney Michael Ram, have been appointed lead counsel.

It took a while to assign a judge due to conflicts of interest: some had their own data stolen and were potential members of the class.

The case has been assigned to Judge David De Alba, Cutter said Thursday. Sutter has filed a challenge to the case; plaintiff attorneys’ response is due today. A hearing will be held Sept. 27.

A case management conference is likely to follow. “Things are moving,” Cutter said.

A decision about class certification is still pending, too. To qualify, lawyers have to prove a common claim runs throughout the class.

The wording of the lawsuits may be different, but they all seek a court order requiring Sutter to do a better job protecting patient information, plus monetary damages.

The computer was stolen during the weekend of Oct. 15, 2011. Patient data on the computer was not encrypted. Sutter immediately reported the theft to the police and began an internal investigation.

The computer did not contain patient financial records, Social Security numbers, patients’ health plan identification numbers or medical records. However, some medical information was included on 943,000 patients, most of them in the Sacramento area.

The guts of the case will deal with liability, damages and attorneys’ fees.

Some attorneys put the price at $1,000 per member — an amount that, if approved, could add up to anywhere from $943 million to $4.25 billion.

Sutter spokesman Bill Gleeson did not have a comment this week about the status of the case, but reiterated remarks Sutter CEO Pat Fry made when the theft was announced: “Sutter Health holds the confidentiality and trust of our patients in the highest regard, and we deeply regret that this incident has occurred.”